Monday, August 22, 2011

Shane Helms Should Leave Social Media

"TMZ, a site that profits off the mistakes and downfalls of human beings. How proud they must be. What a bunch of maggots." - Shane Helms, post Matt Hardy's arrest, via Twitter

I read bothreports TMZ released about Matt Hardy's arrest and firing from Impact Wrestling. Believe you me, I have no great love for the Thirty Mile Zone, but there's no doubt that sometimes, they do good reporting. This is one of those cases. I get that Helms wants to defend a friend from attack, and believe me, there are some baseless attacks on Hardy out there, but at the same time? He doesn't seem to treat the trolls any differently from people who have constructive criticisms.

"I'm just saying don't JUDGE someone you DON'T EVEN KNOW over a situation that YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT! Maybe worry about YOURSELF first." -- Helms.

Seriously, it's okay to pontificate about respect, but when someone shows a blatant lack of respect for innocent people (and let's not get pedantic here, just because Hardy crashed into a tree and there was no one else on the road at that exact moment doesn't mean that he magically had respect for everyone else by driving impaired), we have to shut up because it's his friend? I'm not buying that. While his intentions are probably decent, Helms just comes off terribly here because he's lashing out at the wrong people. He's acting like a know-it-all, and here's a guy who's had his share of dust-ups that seriously damage his credibility. Whether it's trying to justify the situation by bringing up the fact that he was hit by a sober driver when he was a kid or retweeting someone trying to deflect from Hardy because of the bloodshed sparked by the overthrow of Moammar Gaddafi in Libya, all he's doing is bringing more light and heat to a situation that really doesn't need any help garnering attention.

The thing about drunk driving/impaired driving is that more often than not, odds are someone who comments is someone who has been affected by it either way. One of my dad's friends got nailed for drunk driving after getting into a pretty bad accident by driving the wrong way on an exit ramp onto I-95. Admittedly, my parents were both kinda ticked at the punishment he got, which was light even looking back at it now, but all things considered, I'm glad he did have to go to jail. It turned his life around. But he still really fucked up the lives of a whole family. Other people have been impacted by a drunk driver killing or injuring people they know and love. So, I'm pretty sure that this is a situation that people know a lot about, even if they don't know Hardy personally.

"Just because you support someone doesn't mean you agree with EVERYTHING they do. It just means you're there for them." -- Helms.

I don't want to seem like a heartless asshole here. I sympathize and empathize with Helms here. He wants his friend to get better, and I think his heart may be in the right place here. That being said, his head is certainly not. If he wants to truly help his friend get better, he should stop combating with "keyboard warriors" as he's saying and really put the pressure on him to get the help he needs. Then again, are we sure Helms has gotten the help that he needs himself? I mean, he's still recovering from a nasty motorcycle accident that was caused by his own negligence through impaired operation of a moving vehicle. I'm not sure he knows that what Hardy did was wrong, because it's not clear whether he realizes what he did in the past was wrong.

That's why I feel like he needs to quit Twitter and Tumblr and focus on getting his life back into order as well as helping his friends get their affairs in a row. Three of them have problems (counting Jeff Hardy in this bunch as well) with substance abuse, and if they don't help themselves and help each other, they're going to hurt someone real bad, whether it's themselves or someone innocent. Stop worrying about "the dirtsheets". Stop worrying about "respect". Stop worrying about "having boundaries". Stop worrying about your careers. Start worrying about your health.

Until then, all they're doing, Helms especially it seems, is riling up people for no other reason than to get riled up all while ignoring their own problems as they slowly claim their lives and livelihoods.